It has long been known to film the construction of large buildings so as to produce video presentation footage of the progress of the construction. It is normal for a short movie, typically of the order of two to three minutes in length, to be produced in which the progress of the construction site is periodically monitored.
It is known to place clockwork movie cameras on buildings or properties adjacent construction sites and configuring the cameras to record one image frame of the construction site every pre-determined period, typically one frame per day. In so far as construction sites generally take of the order of one to three years to complete, the clockwork movie cameras need to be serviced monthly to at least reload film. An example of such clockwork movie cameras is the Bolex™ 16 mm clockwork movie camera.
In known systems, since the clockwork movie camera film needs to be reloaded on a regular basis, images of the construction site is not available at least until the end of the month when the film was reloaded. Typically, edited file of the site images are not available until the end of all construction and when all the images are at hand.
Clockwork movie cameras so such as the Bolex™ 16 mm are self contained in that they require no external power source or other electrical connections. This is advantageous since the clockwork movie cameras are located on buildings or properties adjacent a construction site. The clockwork movie cameras must therefore be only temporarily mounted to the adjacent building or properties and must not cause any damage during their installation or removal. Furthermore, it is normally the case that communication or power cables cannot be run to a camera on the adjacent buildings.
Similarly in the case of environmental change to farmland, for example, where the growth of crops or deterioration of soil over a period such as one to three years needs to be observed. In such cases, no power or electrical connections are available and it can be the case that the farmland change being recorded is too isolated to be visited each month to change film when using a clockwork movie camera.